Frost Bite
by Funky Funky Usopp
Summary: 1shot: Haga hated X-mas but after he saves someones life he finds something to like about it... RnR plz


Frost Bite  
  
AN: Another X-mas request! So don't yell at ME for the pair! XP lol I own nothing so ya RnR ^.^  
  
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Frost Bite  
  
Christmas a time where families and friends got together and opened gifts under a brightly lit tree before sitting at a table to eat a huge dinner with turkey and all the trimmings that came with it. A time where loved ones could huddle up in front of a roaring fire while the world outside past and the snow flakes fell making the normal ground alive with a sparkly white layer.  
  
How bloody stereotypical.  
  
Haga snorted and managed to fog up his classes in the process. Grumbling to himself he took the gold frames off and cleaned them with the end of his dark green sweater before placing them back on and looking around the park with deep blue eyes that looked as cold as the boy felt. He wasn't a fan of this time of year and why should he be?  
  
His folks were always at some meeting or away together as a pair always leaving him on his own. Normally he had Ryuzaki to keep him company and hang around with or least join his family for the day but not this year. The dino duellist and his family were visiting family in the USA and weren't due to come back till January.  
  
Haga rolled his eyes when he saw a couple walk past him holding hands and saying sweet nothings to one another. Why can't he have that? Be with someone on this day? Or with anyone anytime as a matter of fact. He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets and got up from the bench. He started to walk down the path kicking snow from under his feet and grunted curses under his breath.  
  
Haga swore when he almost slipped on a hidden patch of ice, sure snow maybe 'magical' and 'romantic' but one slip up and you could easily break something. Sometimes the green haired boy wondered if he was the only practical person in this whole damn city. Stepping over the path of ice that had been hidden by snow the young teen walked towards the lake.  
  
The lake was covered in a sheet of ice and snow like everything else, Haga glanced at it and didn't fancy his or anyone's chances if they were to be foolish enough to go ice skating or just to mess around on the death trap. Haga's head shot up when he heard cries for help, he took another look at the lake but this time he had to squint.  
  
All he could see was wild splashes, he gulped when he realised that someone was in danger and he was the only one around. Not close enough to do anything from where he was the green haired boy took off running to the other side of the lake almost slipping a few times and ended up out of breath when he got there. Thankful the lake wasn't that big he looked over and saw a boy older then himself trying to cling to the ice.  
  
Haga guessed that this teen had been messing around on the ice when it had cracked under him, what a fool. There wasn't enough time to think about the others lack of common sense that would come in a later lecture when he had helped. The boy wasn't too far out, Haga looked around for something and luck was on his side when he saw a discarded rope.  
  
"Hey! I'm going to chuck you this rope ok? Grab on!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and took the frosty rope into his once warm hands making him wince from the bitter bite of the cold.  
  
He heard a faint mumble of agreement as he tossed the rope and with some skill the other hand grabbed a hold of it. Haga tied his end around the trunk of a tree and tried his best to pull the other person out of the frozen water but it was hard when he kept slipping on the snow. The sound of desperate splashing came to an errie stand still causing the insect duellist to panic.  
  
Still tugging at the rope the small teen's eyes opened wide when he saw the person crawling onto the bank of the lake, ice cold water dripping from his light green hair. Haga patted the once drowning teens back as he coughed and barked up water and panted for air.  
  
Haga stood back letting the ices victim catch his breath this also gave Haga a good chance to see who it was who had been dumb enough to risk their life on the ice in the first place. Long pale green hair was the first thing he noticed and then a dark pink-ish sweater.  
  
It then hit Haga in just who it was that would have been dead if it wasn't for him. Esper Roba the so called ESP duellist and not to mention the very same person who had been subject to Ryuzaki's bitching for at least a month after Battle City. Said duellist had finished coughing up and was holding himself trying to warm himself up as the cold settled into his bones and his teeth started to chatter.  
  
"What in HELLS name were you doing on the ice?" Haga snapped.  
  
"I - I was..w..was.." Esper tried to explain but it wasn't easy when one was slipping in and out of awareness.  
  
Haga rolled his eyes and pulled his own jacket off and wrapping it around the now standing and frail form of Esper. Esper leaned on the smaller green haired teen for support as they walked away from the lake each step they took made the dead and frozen leaves crunch in argument. Haga had saved Roba that was true but he also wanted to make sure the older one was ok.  
  
What was the point in saving someone to just watch them die? Haga didn't live to far from the park but Esper's need to stop every now and then to take deep in takes of air slowed down their progress making a ten-minute walk one of twenty-five. Haga winced since he was cold and he wasn't used to being an armrest.  
  
Haga struggled to open his door but managed none the less and helped the almost sleeping and freezing older by into the house. The glasses wearing duellist led Roba to the sofa and laid him down before he pulled out a blanket from the closet and laid it over him. Mentally snorting at how foolish Roba had been he turned his attention to the fire and got it stated poking a log to make it catch faster.  
  
"Your lucky I walked past you know"  
  
"I..I know" Roba said snuggling into the blanket trying to get the feeling in his body back.  
  
It was no easy task what both boys had just been through. Esper indeed was lucky to be alive, he had been on the ice only to get away from a group of teens much older then himself who were out purely for the soul reason of making his life a misery. He thought it would all be over when he fell below the icy water and felt the stinging of ice that flooded his senses. He then thought about his brother and the fact they would have no one when he was gone, with that thought he had struggled to stay alive.  
  
"Then why in the HELL did you do it?" Haga snapped as he leaned on the wall next to the fire.  
  
"Like you'd understand?" Roba snapped back with a small glare from under his limp bangs.  
  
"Well we can bitch at each other AFTER I get us something to drink, you need to be warm on the outside and in after that little episode. Hot coco ok?" The younger of the two asked as he walked into his kitchen.  
  
"Hai" Roba nodded.  
  
Esper watched Haga retreat into his kitchen with a small smile on his face, he shouldn't be so snappy to him after all if it wasn't for Haga he would be dead right now. No one else would have cared enough to save him or make even the smallest effort but Haga.. Haga had cared.  
  
Haga put the kettle on to boil for the hot coco's and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and a small scowl on his face. If that had been any one else other then his best friend Ryuzaki he would have walked away pretending not to have seen them and just blaming the pool fool for their own stupidity. So why DID he save Roba? After all they had only met once or twice in their entire lives.  
  
Haga was stirred from his mental contemplation by the kettle going off. He shook his head and poured the water into the cups before stirring. He remembered that he had liked Roba the last time they had met but he was sure that the feelings had gone soon after but infact they may have been laying dormant. Dormant due to the fact Ryuzaki hated Roba's guts and the fact he'd end up never seeing him again.  
  
"You ok in there?" Roba's voice drifted in.  
  
"Don't worry about me I'm not the one who was almost a human icecube" Haga said with a small huff as he came into the room.  
  
The younger boy sat beside Roba who had the blanket pulled around him and over his head making him look like a monk, Haga smiled at that and handed Esper a hot coco. Esper wrinkled his nose and looked like a small child who had been told what a long and complex word meant.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"Um.. Have you got any cream? Or marshmallows?"  
  
Haga blinked at Esper who looked and sounded so innocent and dare he think it.. Adorable? At that time. With a silent sigh he went back into the kitchen. He returned with a can of whipped cream, which he was in the process of shaking along with a small bag of marshmallows. Returning to his seat he found himself looking at Roba in a softer light now. The once shaking and frightened teen was now warm and comfy and had a cheery and grateful smile on his face.  
  
"Better?" Haga asked with an eyebrow quirked.  
  
"Much, thanks" Esper nodded and sipped at his coco.  
  
Haga tried to stifle a snort of laughter when he noticed Roba had cream on his nose. Esper cocked his head to one side with confusion and that only aided in Haga's bought of chuckles, Esper frowned and pouted until the giggling younger teen stopped.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"You have cream on your nose" he pointed.  
  
"Oh." Esper blushed and brushed it off sheepishly.  
  
Both settled down as Haga turned on the TV and they watched some cheap remake of some crap Xmas movie that had been played to death in the last five years or so. Haga chuckled a little as he remembered the look on Roba's face till..  
  
"Oh I KNOW you did not just chuck a marshmallow at me."  
  
All he got in reply was a burst of giggles. It seemed that a new friendship or something deeper was forming from an almost tragic accident. It's funny what the snow reveals when it melts the same can be said when a person's hostility and pride melt away and let the buds of friendship bloom. Maybe this Christmas wasn't a TOTAL waste? Haga mentally smiled he got something more then any one else could ave given him. Another friend and a shot at love.  
  
Haga didn't care if he had fallen into the stereotype he had placed this time of the year in and the way people acted. He was happy and to him that's all he really cared about.  
  
~~ End ~~ 


End file.
